Pentecost and Shavuot
Pentecost is Shavuot, the festival 50 days after the day after the Passover Sabbath.
There is a great discussion of Pentecost and the Jewish feast of Shavuot in this podcast of One For Israel:
One For Israel discussion of Pentecost/Shavuot (apple podcasts)
https://pod.co/oneforisrael/pentecost-shavuot-fulfilled-in-yeshua-pod-for-israel (generic link)
Shavuot, the Jewish feast 50 days after the Passover, celebrates the first-fruits of the harvest and thanks God for his blessings.
Jesus was crucified on the passover.
Shavuot is called Pentecost (meaning 50th) in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, because the day of Shavuot occurs 50 days after the day after the Passover Sabbath. i.e. on a Sunday by, the way. In Shavuot two loaves of leavened bread were offered in the temple on Shavuot.
And so, yes, it was precisely upon Shavuot (the day of Pentecost) that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit happened.
I must fact check the Wikipedia article about Shavuot1 at this point, because it claims that Shavuot is not the same as Pentecost. It certainly is — Πεντηκοστή is the Greek name for Shavuot in the Greek Septuagint, which translated about 250 years before Christ, and it is precisely because the outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred on the day of Shavuot, 50 days after the day after the Passover Sabbath, that the New Testament says that it happened on the day of Pentecost! Which is Shavuot!
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
“‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ Acts 2:1-22
Here are the instructions for when Shavuot, the festival of the first-fruits, should occur, in Leviticus 23:15-21, and what sort of wave offering should be made before the Lord:
From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest. On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. Leviticus 23:15-21
They reason that leavened bread is offered on Shavuot is that this is an offering before God — not of the Messiah, Jesus, who was offered for our sins, and therefore Jesus being innocent of sin is the unleavened bread offered on Passover and the other festivals — but Shavuot is an offering of two loaves of leavened bread, representing two sinful groups of people — the Jews and the Gentiles — who are joined together in Jesus Christ — the Messiah.
Interestingly, in Judaism, the two loaves of bread are said to represent two witnesses, which perhaps parallels Revelation 11 (looking back towards Zechariah 4).
Here are some New Testament verses which refer clearly to those who have the Holy Spirit as first-fruits:
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures. James 1:18
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption. Romans 8:23
In these days of growing anti-semitism, we will often hear people who say that the Jews don’t belong in the church of Christ, but the truth is, we Gentiles are the wild olive branch that has been grafted in. The original olive tree is the root.
If the first part of the dough is holy, so is the whole batch; if the root is holy, so are the branches. Now if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, remember this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. Romans 11:16-18
They nitpick about various calendars, but just as Maundy Thursday/Good Friday is certainly representative of the Passover, Pentecost is representative of Shavuot.